A B-day present for Dad

[jlmelend]

My dad's Birthday is always on an election day. He turned 69 on 11/4, so to exercise our right to vote as American citizens, we went fishing with Ryan Miller on the Feather River. Dad taught me how to fish with conventional gear in the midwest and New England, so the least I could do is get him into fly fishing. Suffice it to say he has never fly fished, but he loves the outdoors , especially hunting and fishing. My scheme was to get him hooked on fly angling so he'll take me to Alaska or BC! Much to my chargrin, he caught a lot more fish than I did. These baby boomer anglers have got some mojo! Here he is fighting one on a fly rod. He looks like he hooked a tarpon!
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z180/jlmelend/th_FeatherRiverwithDadandRyan020.jpg (http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z180/jlmelend/?action=view&current=FeatherRiverwithDadandRyan020.flv)

Hey! I said it was a fish, I didn't say it was a steelie!
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z180/jlmelend/FeatherRiverwithDadandRyan007.jpg

Can you say double hookup?!
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z180/jlmelend/FeatherRiverwithDadandRyan011.jpg
Maybe our last name means "bottom dweller" in our native language. At least we know the fly was down where the fish was.

The Feather was at a pretty low water level. Lots of Salmon cutting Redds.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z180/jlmelend/th_FeatherRiverwithDadandRyan015.jpg (http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z180/jlmelend/?action=view&current=FeatherRiverwithDadandRyan015.flv)

Here's our best catch of the day. The Steelhead fishing was a bit slow, but we still caught a lot of fish.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z180/jlmelend/IMGP0363.jpg

Thanks Ryan for a great 69th B-day present for my Dad.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z180/jlmelend/IMGP0384.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z180/jlmelend/IMGP0386.jpg

And just in case you were wondering, we both still managed to vote.

[Ty@Landpark]

Sounds like a wonderful bday present and a fantastic relationship with your dad. Thanks for sharing the experience.

[Scott V]

Way cool Joe, that is the way a good son should always be, repaying his farther for what he did for you. He took you fishing and now you are taking him fishing. Wish him a belated happy birthday.

[Jeff C.]

Nice going Joe. I hope to get a few steelies myself this weekend. Jeff

[mikel]

I suspect your name means "good father-good son" in your native language. Great post...thanks. I wish my dad were still here so I could do the same, but at least you reminded me to think of him this morning.

-Mike

[Adam Grace]

Way to go Joe!

I'm glad that you guys had fun out there with Ryan.

Where'd you guys see all those salmon? A few weeks back we never saw that concentration of salmon in one area.

[jlmelend]

Thanks guys! It was a fun trip with my Dad! I'm sure you've all treated your Dad's the same way.

Adam, those Redds were really fresh and were throughout the top part of the float on nearly every riffle from the Oroville wildlife preserve to about 3-4 miles down. As a matter of fact, Ryan was surprised at how many there were compared to when he saw you out there with Charlie! The only thing is there weren't many steelies around yet. But all the other fish were definitely keying in on eggs.